“Oh, get up and stop being ridiculous,” she exclaimed at seeing me crouch. “Going down on one knee is idiocy. Or did you think it would make me forget how rude you’ve been in not coming to see me right away. What’s that you’ve brought me? Oh, how thoughtful! How did you know I’d been studying them? You know, I’ve searched all the castle’s libraries and not found much on the predicting sticks at all!”

She took the tablet from my hand and smiled up at me at the supposed gift. Over her shoulder, Lacey winked at me. I gave a minuscule shrug in return. I glanced back at Lady Patience, who set the tablet atop a teetering stack of tablets. She turned back to me. For a moment she regarded me warmly, then she called up a frown to her face. Her brows gathered over her hazel eyes, while her small straight mouth held a firm line. The effect of her reproving look was rather spoiled by the fact that she came just to my shoulder now, and that she had two ivy leaves stuck in her hair. “Excuse me,” I said, and boldly plucked them from the unruly dark curls. She took them from my hand seriously, as if they were important, and set them atop the tablet.

“Where have you been, all these months, when you were needed here?” she demanded. “Your uncle’s bride arrived months ago. You’ve missed the formal wedding, you’ve missed the feasting and the dancing and the gathering of the nobles. Here I am, expending all my energies to see that you are treated as the son of a Prince, and there you are, avoiding all your social obligations. And when you do get home, you don’t come to see me, but go all about the Keep where anyone else might talk to you, dressed like a ragged tinker. Whatever possessed you to cut your hair like that?” My father’s wife, once horrified to discover that he had sired a bastard before they were wed, had gone from abhorring me to aggressively bettering me. Sometimes that was more difficult to deal with than if she had ostracized me. Now she demanded, “Had you no thought that you might have social duties here that were more important than gallivanting about with Burrich looking at horses?”

“I am sorry, my lady.” Experience had taught me never to argue with Patience. Her eccentricity had delighted Prince Chivalry. It drove me to distraction on a good day. Tonight I felt overwhelmed by it. “For a time I was ill. I did not feel well enough to travel. By the time I recovered, the weather delayed us. I am sorry to have missed the wedding.”

“And that was all? That was the sole reason for your delay?” She spoke sharply, as if suspecting some heinous deception.

“It was,” I answered gravely. “But I did think of you. I have something for you, out in my packs. I haven’t brought them up from the stable yet, but I will tomorrow.”

“What is it?” she demanded, curious as a child.

I took a deep breath. I desperately wished for my bed. “It’s a sort of an herbal. A simple one, for they are delicate, and the more ornate ones would not have stood up to the trip. The Chyurda don’t use tablets or scrolls for teaching herbs, as we do. Instead, this is a wooden case. When you open it, you will discover tiny wax models of the herbs, tinted to the correct colors and scented with each herb to make it easier to learn them. The lettering is in Chyurda, of course, but I still thought you would enjoy it.”

“It sounds quite interesting,” she said, and her eyes shone. “I look forward to seeing it.”

“Shall I bring him a chair, my lady? He does look as if he has been ill,” Lacey interjected.

“Oh, of course, Lacey. Sit down, boy. Tell me, what was your illness?”

“I ate something, one of the foreign herbs, and had a strong reaction to it.” There. That was truthful. Lacey brought me a small stool and I sat gratefully. A wave of weariness passed through me.

“Oh. I see.” She dismissed my illness. She took a breath, glanced about, then suddenly demanded, “Tell me. Have you ever considered marriage?”

The abrupt change in subject was so like Patience that I had to smile. I tried to put my mind to the question. For a moment I saw Molly, her cheeks reddened with the wind that teased her dark hair loose. Molly. Tomorrow, I promised myself. Siltbay.

“Fitz! Stop that! I won’t have you staring through me as if I were not here. Do you hear me? Are you well?”

With an effort I called myself back. “Not really,” I answered honestly. “It’s been a tiring day for me….”

“Lacey, fetch the boy a cup of elderberry wine. He does look worn. Maybe this isn’t the best time for talk,” Lady Patience decided falteringly. For the first time she really looked at me. Genuine concern grew in her eyes. “Perhaps,” she suggested softly, after a moment, “I do not know the full tale of your adventures.”